Before the kids left for college, we planned a 7 day RC cruise out of San Juan and were very excited as we have never been to Aruba or Curacao before. It cost a lot more to fly into San Juan but we bit the bullet because we wanted to go to these two places.

Halfway through the week, the boat broke and was unable to sail at more than 5 knots, and was dead in the water for a time also. While I understand mechanical issues occur, what happened afterwards by RC was simply unacceptable. Because we could no longer go to Aruba, we went to another island. That was understandable but disappointing. We went to use the ship's internet to cancel our excursions and make other plans, but the internet café was a robbery. The internet was as slow as dial up and very expensive. What was most appalling was that RC, upon realizing they would not make it into San Juan in time, re-booked all the passengers that made flights through them before informing the rest of the ship of the delay. Flights and hotels quickly booked up and those not making travel arrangements through RC were stuck. The captain lied several times about the status of repairs and actually turned off the TV that showed ship movement to cover up his lies. The disembarkment process was a nightmare. Completely disorganized and chaotic. It was every passenger for himself. To add insult to injury, we learned that this ship was due for renovation and they knew it had problems before sailing.

The ship gave each state room a small credit for the inconvenience, but it did not even come close to even covering the additional airfare we paid to fly into San Juan. I tried corresponding with RC afterwards to check for reimbursement for our $75 internet usage but they flatly refused stating that the ship provided free internet which was another lie. Read more